Good news for state dairy farmers

Wisconsin dairy farmers have something to be happy about this year. They're finally making enough money to pay their bills.

The price farmers get for their milk has been climbing steadily in the past year. Tom Thieding of the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation says it's gone up about five and a half dollars per hundredweight since last May.

Now, Thieding says, farmers can pay some bills and maybe make a profit. The steadily climbing milk prices are definitely offsetting increases farmers are seeing in fuel, feed and fertilizer costs.

Thieding says there's a world-wide demand for milk right now but it doesn't take much for the good news to turn sour. Just a percentage of change in supply and demand can affect prices.

But just as farmers get more their product, consumers are paying more at the store. Since the beginning of the year, Farm Bureau figures show an average twenty-one cents a gallon increase in the retail price of milk. Now at two dollars eighty-nine cents a gallon. The price of cheese is up nine-cents a pound to three-twenty-nine.